Alternative Conversations Workshop

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Alternative Conversations Workshop

C. Lofty Bolling

July 21, 2023

In our workshop we will write out alternative endings to unfinished conversations, showcasing how you’d wish they had went.

 

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Pre-reading:

  • Take 120 seconds to reflect on the day you’ve had up until this point. Think about conversations you’ve had, recently. In the form of written out dialogue.

Source Material:


Prompt:

Think about conversations you’ve had recently. In the form of written out dialogue. In our workshop we will write out alternative endings to unfinished conversations in the form of scripted dialogue, including some narration, showcasing how you’d wish they had went.

My example: a phone call between my older siblings and I.

could feel the head shake through the phone, you know the type. Over A couple hundred miles you sense the shake of disapproval but empathy.

He said

He said “I know, I know it’s messed up. But you have to get used to having less support. You have to get used to not hearing from people. Not because they don’t want to talk, because at some point they get too busy.”

“It’s not fair,”

“I know, it’s not fair. But it’s not personal. When people get older, they stop talking. They stop swinging the vowel, they stiffen. They carve out instead of bend in. folding instead of braiding. Some hair do’s don’t involve you. People can take care of themselves. and that’s okay. It’s okay. It has to be okay.”

“It hurts to not always be needed”

“I know. It’s okay though you’ll grow out of it and into it” 

C. Lofty Bolling

C.Lofty Bolling (they/them) is a black, queer, and southern poet who has recently relocated to Chicago in 2021 and have been writing poetry regularly since middle school, self publishing since their senior year of high school. Through their poetry they explore notions of identity formations, the quantum imagination, history, ontology and voodoo practices. They have 6 self published works titled, Lofty (2019), The Aquarius’ Aquarium (2019), Blue and Orange (2020), Unloc’d (2021), Black Atlanteans (2021) and The Master’s House (2021) and additional individual poems published through Lupercalia Press, and Rigorous Press.